A Hero's Journey
by yellow 14
Summary: A series of drabbles covering Alejandra's rise as a hero.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: You know the drill. Hell, I haven't even PLAYED Overwatch.

AN: Set several months after the short, Hero.

AN2: Like my fic Bad Dreams or Rather Nightmares, I have peppered this fic with Spanish terms (Thank you Google Translate.) Any errors in my Spanish I attribute to them. All translations are at the bottom of this fic. Also,for any errors I have in my application of the Mexican education system, I apologise.

"So what do you think?" Alejandra asked and her friend was quiet for a moment.

"You're crazy Ale," Maria said after what seemed like an eternity. Alejandra glared at her friend but Maria just kept talking.

"You think that you're going to be some kind of superhero with a catapult! You gonna get yourself killed!"

"There's one in Japan who uses a bow and arrow," Alejandra protested and Maria snorted..

"You mean that urban myth about an archer with magic arm tattoos?" she said and Alejandra glared. "Even if he did exist, he's got a bow and arrow and supposedly magical tattoos. You have a catapult and some stones."

Alejandra huffed and Maria sighed.

For a few moments, the two girls sat in silence as their classmates ate their lunches.

"I just...want to be like Los Protectors," Alejandra said finally. "Like Senor 76."

Maria shook her head.

"Senor 76 is a soldier with all sorts of fancy technology and a gun and God knows what else. How a skinny teenage girl and her catapult going to have anything on that?" she pointed out and Alejandra sighed.

"Maybe I could learn…"she looked at their dilapidated old school lunchroom, with patches still covering the holes from the Omnic crisis.

"Not here you not," Maria said, tossing her long black hair over her shoulder and waving at a pair of boys. Alejandra rolled her eyes. "I think you like Senor 76."

"He saved my life. Of course I like him. He's so cool and amazing and-"

"No, I mean, like, like him," Maria said, cutting Alejandra off. Alejandra flushed.

"You crazy! He's old. Like really old!" she protested and Maria laughed.

"Denial is not just a river in Egypt," Maria said with a chuckle and Alejandra blushed once more.

"He just inspired me!" she protested. "Anyway, someone needs to stand up to Los Muertos. Those Calaveras can do what they like and nobody will stand up to them!"

"Dios mio Ale, you going to get yourself killed! You already had one close call. Thank God you did. But he won't always be there to save you," Alejandra opened her mouth to speak, but Maria pressed on. "It's not your responsibility. Leave it to the Policia Estatal-" Alejandra snorted "or the Policía Federal Ministerial. It's their job!"

"Like they do anything!" Alejandra shot back with a hint of annoyance. "Did Los Protectores stand aside and say it was someone else's job?"

"Los Protectores were made up of people with superpoderes," Maria pointed out. "Or had awesome technology. You have neither."

For a moment, Alejandra slumped, looking defeated. Maria dismissed the slight twinge of guilt she felt at crushing her friend's dream. Better to live and let the foolish dream die than to have her actually be dead. Then a gleam entered Alejandra's eyes.

"You're right. Fighting Los Muertos with a catapult is stupid," she said, her eyes suddenly alive. "Los Protectores would never be so stupid. What was I thinking?"

"You weren't," Maria said with a slight chuckle.

"Do you know if Señor Cortilla is still taking apprentices at his garage?"

Maria remained silent for a moment, taken aback by the change in direction the conversation had taken.

"He's always taking apprentices. He's a gilipollas who can't keep apprentices."

"Not everyone," Alejandra said with a smile. "Didn't your brother say that he learned how to be the best from him?"

"Well yeah-"

"I'm going to see him," Alejandra said and Maria gave her a strange look.

The bell rang, signalling the end of their lunch break and Alejandra walked into class with a skip in her step.

Translations.

Los Protectors=The Protecters. Basically the Mexican name for Overwatch.

Senor 76= Don't need to translate. She refers to him like this because even though she knows his real name, his jacket stands out in her mind.

Calaveras=Skulls. Basically a local nickname for Los Muertos

Los Muertos=The skull tattooed thugs who Soldier 76 is fighting in the episode Hero.

Dios mio=My God

gilipollas = arsehole


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: You may apply for ownership to Blizzard and not me. Okay?

Alejandra frowned slightly as she looked at herself in the mirror and smoothed out an imaginary wrinkle.

She did not like what she saw looking back at her.

Yes, she was wearing a simple knee length smart dress. And yes, her earrings with simple gold studs instead of her more elaborate pearl earrings. And yes, her hair was tied into a simple ponytail instead of her elaborate twin plaits. But...something felt off.

Mostly her if she was honest.

She was fourteen years old, but right now she felt like she was five, playing pretend.

She glanced up at the clock on the wall and let out a curse. There was no time to waste.

"Goodbye mama," she shouted as she left.

"Goodbye Alejandra," her mother replied. "And good luck!"

"Yeah...luck. I'm going to need it," she muttered to herself as she made her way through the city to her destination.

At least she wasn't going to run into any trouble on the way. The city was quiet. The sun was still up and the streets fairly empty. There were a few passing cars, but nothing unusual. Even Los Muertos were absent (or at least somewhere else.)

She paused for a moment outside her destination and swallowed, but before she could make herself known, she heard a shout from inside.

"Don't be estúpido viejo. It's just money!"

"It's MY money cabrón! I fucking earned it, you lazy pedazo de mierda! You want money? Get a job you fucking parásito!"

Peeking into the garage, she could see a pair of armed thugs threatening Señor Cortilla. Behind the counter, Señor Cortilla had a shotgun pointing at one of the thugs. The two thugs (thankfully not anyone Alejandra knew. That would have been...unsettling.) Slowly she began to back away, before suddenly stopping.

Señor 76 wouldn't have just snuck away. Los Protectores knew that someone had to stand up. They all answered the call when fate needed them. How could she ever be a hero if she walked away now?

With a new resolve (and with mounting trepidation), she slipped forward and grabbed a metal pole that was leaning against the building. Pausing for a moment to psyche herself up, she charged in and hit the thug nearest her as hard as she could on the back of the head. For a moment, he stood there. Then he fell to the ground with a thump.

"What the…"

A shotgun blast cut the second thug off before he could finish.

"And who are you?" Señor Cortilla demanded angrily. "You trying to rob me as well? Some ladrona trying her luck?"

Alejandra said nothing as she stared at the thug she had hit. Suddenly her legs gave way and she dropped to her knees and promptly vomited all over the floor.

"Could you at least have hit one of these parásitos?" he growled, gesturing to the two thugs lying on the ground. "Now sit up!"

"I-"

"Sit up and take a deep breath!" he bellowed and Alejandra sat down and took a deep breath. "What did you think you were doing? You trying to be some kind of héroe?"

"Si, si, I mean-"

"You're that girl from Panadería Las Nieblas, down the road," he said, cutting her off. "You're just a baker's daughter and you think you can be a héroe?" he paused for a moment and gestured to the two thugs laying on the floor. "Well that's a good start. Help me clean up this mess," he shoved a mop into her hands. "Oh and if you're here about the apprenticeship, you're hired. Now get to work!"

"But what about…" she gestured to the two thugs on the ground and Señor Cortilla snorted.

"They'll wake up later," he said with a shrug. "Non-lethal rounds. The police object to dead bodies. Now get to work little héroe!"

With a slight smile teasing at her lips, Alejandra got to work.

estúpido viejo=stupid old man

cabrón=dumbass

pedazo de mierda=piece of shit

Parásito=parasite

ladrona=thief

héroe=hero


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Don't own and never will.

"Are you serious?"

Alejandra looked up nervously at her cousin Calista and nodded. Calista rolled her eyes.

"Why would you need to learn how to fight?" she asked. "Who would bother a little girl like you?"

Alejandra scowled at her cousin.

"I'm not a little girl anymore! Why won't everyone stop treating me like one?" she protested and Calista chuckled.

"Your mama seems to think otherwise," she said with a chuckle, ruffling her hair. Alejandra scowled.

"Los Muertos were happy enough to steal my money. They didn't leave me alone!" Alejandra protested and Calista shook her head.

"You're too small fry for them to do any worse," she said and Alejandra let out a growl of frustration, before storming away. Calista raised an eyebrow and sighed. Her little cousin was such a drama queen.

Alejandra continued to storm away, walking into the delivery yard and sighed. She could hardly tell her cousin her real reason for wanting to learn how to fight. And she was right. Alejandra was too small fry for them to bother and often too fast. And Los Muertos rarely bothered locals too badly.

She idly considered her options.

She could try learning moves from the holovids of Los Protectores, but they were superhumans with the luxury of time. And teachers. She really needed a teacher.

There were the gangs as well. Los Muertos had more than a few fighters in their ranks and there were other local street gangs. They got into fights often enough. Surely they had some experience that she could learn from?

She shook her head.

The gangs were criminals whose training was just as often learning on the job as anything else. And they were the same criminales that her mother had warned her time and again to stay away from. Once they had their garras in you, they never let go.

And besides, Señor 76 would be disappointed in her.

Somehow, that was worse.

She sighed.

There had to be something she could do. Anything.

"What's the real reason you want to learn how to fight, Frito pequeño?" her cousin asked and Alejandra whipped her head around sharply.

"I told you, I-"

"Don't tell me that mierda frito pequeño!" Calista said with some annoyance. "You aren't fooling anyone."

Alejandra looked away and Calista sighed.

"Are you in some kind of trouble niña?" Calista pressed, her face getting close to Alejandra "You shouldn't have to be afraid to tell me if something is bothering you, or your parents if you can't tell me." Calista hit her chest. "I can protect you, but only if you let me."

"I'm not in trouble," she mumbled and Calista grabbed her shoulders. "Then what is it? Tell me!"

"I want to learn how to be a héroe!" she said quickly, before looking away embarrassed.

"A héroe?" Calista asked with a puzzled look. Alejandra nodded.

"Si, si. Like those heroes in the old stories mamá used to tell me when I was younger. Like the Overwatch."

Calista snorted and Alejandra frowned.

"You want to go and play games with your friends niñita?" she said mockingly and Alejandra glared.

"I'm serious!" she said with some annoyance as she glared at her cousin. Calista looked at her and frowned.

"What's your real reason?" she asked and Alejandra growled.

"That IS my real reason!" she said and Calista shook her head.

"Mierda! You stopped caring about them years ago," Calista said, leaning back and folding her arms with a frown. "You're not fooling anyone. What's your real reason?"

Alejandra glared at her cousin, who simply sighed.

"This isn't some children's game niñita. People get killed in gangs. They aren't heroes, they're just different shades of bad."

"Señor 76 isn't a bad guy!" Alejandra shot back. "He saved me and I want to be a héroe like him!"

"You wouldn't have needed saving if he hadn't been fighting Los Muertos in the first place!" Calista snapped back. "It's thanks to him that you ended up in the middle of a war zone!"

"Los Muertos are turning these streets into a war zone! You think that any of them would have saved me?"

"That's besides the point! He-"

"He's done a lot of good in this neighbourhood. Los Muertos and their influence have dropped and it's safer and I want to be a protector like him, not caught up in some corrupt beaucratic mess! You've said it yourself. You're sick of catching small fry and seeing the bigger fish go free because of corruption."

"And how long until you become as corrupt as los Autodefensas groups of twenty-twelve and twenty-thirteen?" Calista asked and Alejandra frowned.

"I would never become like them!" she said angrily and Calista gently touched her arm.

"They probably said that as well when they started," she said. "Alejandra, your intentions mean well, but the system exists for a reason."

"A system that doesn't work," Alejandra said sullenly and Calista smiled sadly.

"Not perfectly, no," she said. "But it works better than the alternative. Vigilante justice catches innocents in it's path without caring. People have been killed by clashes between the Autodefensas and the cartels. You were almost killed by a clash between your hero and Los Muertos. This is not a path that you want to go. If you want to protect people, consider going for Policía Federal, or Fuerzas Armadas de México. They may not be perfect, but they're a good place to start. Or maybe even Helix Security International. Then you could help protect people across the world."

"Helix are a private company. They take experienced soldiers, not inexperienced teenagers," Alejandra said, looking away. "And we all know that they are just as corrupt as the rest of the government, paying out bribes for big government contracts."

"But they do a lot of good as well," Calista gently pointed out. "They stopped the god-programme Anubis when it escaped. They're involved with peacekeeping missions across the world. Spend a few years in Fuerzas Armadas de México, do well and you'll be able to join them." Calista looked grimly out of the window. "There'll be plenty of opportunities for you to prove yourself soon enough."

Alejandra grimaced.

"Is there another war coming?" she asked and Calista shook her head.

"Maybe. I hope not," she said, before smiling. "Promise me you won't do anything stupid?"

Alejandra nodded her head and Calista smiled.

"Good. I will see you later," she said, turning to leave.

"Calista?" Alejandra asked tentatively and Calista looked curiously at Alejandra. "What do you suppose will happen if a new war between the Omnics and humans starts?"

"Then I'm sure that new heroes will rise, just like Los Protectores did," she said with a smile before leaving.

Alejandra sat for a moment in deep thought. Her cousin might be happy to hope for the best, but it sounded like heroes would be needed once more.

And when the time came, she was going to be ready.

AN: Vigilante groups, known as Grupos de Autodefensas (self-defenders groups) or Policía Comunitaria (Community Police)[1] or "Policía Popular" (People's Police) arose in the Gulf of Mexico and South Mexico regions between 2012 and 2013. A new cartel arose from these groups (not all. Some disbanded at the behest of the Mexican Government) known as "Los Viagras".

Fuerzas Armadas de México=Mexican armed forces

Policía Federal=Mexico's Federal Police Force

niñita=little girl.

niña=girl

mierda=Bullshit

Frito pequeño=small fry

garras=claws

criminales=criminals

lo siento=sorry


End file.
